A Modest Proposal
In Ireland, the summer of 1729 blistered with suffering from the potato famine. It was amidst this crisis that Jonathan Swift wrote: "A Modest Proposal;" his solution to save the people from malnutrition, misfortune, and death. In his proposal, Swift argues that something must be done to alleviate the situation in Ireland. His solution, a satire, calls for the feeding of poverty-stricken children to the upper class people of England. Swift's stylistic approach in addressing this issue was to use satire to emphasize the desperation of the situation. While his actual suggestions are not realistic, they demonstrate the radical nature that would be required of a solution. Swift expresses concern that family units are unable survive given the economic stress.
Thus, Swift's "modest proposal" was a call for people to regain their morality. " Swift not only discusses the idea that the skin of the children could be used to make gloves and summer boots, but the idea that breeding children for profit might eventually become a common practice. Swift had no intention of actually putting this proposal into action. Swift's proposal suggested that, to show they have refined taste, rich people would purchase these animal-raised children. However, he cleverly juxtaposes this practice against "voluntary abortions" and "women murdering their bastard children," practices that in some lights are as evil. The children will be, "very proper for landlords, who. have already devoured most of the parents. This, of course, is an attack on the values of the aristocracy, whose only interests are financial. Swift hoped that promoting the idea of cannibalism, which was so drastic, would shake the people of England. The English upper class did not care about the problems in Ireland. He suggests, "buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife," which was a common practice for roasting pigs. Swift proceeds to compare the meat of schoolboys to venison, which was a favorite of the aristocracy of England. He states that, for breeding, "only one fourth part to be males, which is more than we allow to sheep.
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Acceptance Essays
